ST. GEORGE — Records are meant to be broken, but those who oversee water in southwestern Utah aren’t pleased with St. George’s new record.

That’s because rainfall was last recorded in St. George on June 17, and the city entered its 122nd straight day without a measurable amount of rain Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, breaking the record of 121 days set in 1930.

“This isn’t a good record to break,” Ron Thompson, general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District, said in a written statement.

Growing drought in southern Utah

The U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its weekly Drought Monitor across the country on Thursday. St. George remains in a moderate drought, which began as the rainless streak grew. The lack of rain in southern Utah has also created a severe drought in southeastern Utah.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 17% of the state is in a severe drought, a little more than 23% is in a moderate drought, and nearly one-third of the state — mostly central and northeastern Utah — is considered abnormally dry. The majority of the Wasatch Front remained out of drought situation as of Thursday’s report.

However, Thompson noted there is enough water stored to meet the conservancy district’s immediate needs.

So why hasn’t St. George seen rain in so long? Unlike northern Utah, southwestern Utah receives a good portion of its precipitation during the summer months, which is commonly referred to as its monsoon season. That’s when moisture systems move up from Mexico into places like Arizona and Utah.

However, this year has been a bit abnormal. St. George and most of the southern Utah region got pelted by storms prior to the typical monsoon season; it included flooding in April. The Spectrum reported in mid-June that cities in Washington County were gearing up for the monsoon after the wet spring. But the monsoon season never came.

“It was just a different year where we saw the pattern change a little bit. So, instead of a lot of that moisture creeping up from the south and right into Arizona and Utah, it just didn’t happen,” said KSL meteorologist Grant Weyman. “Once you lose that monsoon moisture, then you’re generally looking dry in May and June anyway. … That’s the one time they can really rely on the rain, and with a little shift in the weather pattern it just didn’t happen.”

The bad monsoon season is also the main reason more than three-fourths of Arizona is also listed in a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That’s compared to 0% three months ago.

Adding to the woes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its climate prediction for the winter months on Thursday. It calls for a warmer than average winter throughout Utah. It anticipates normal precipitation numbers across the state as well. However, it notes droughts across western Texas, the Four Corners region and southwestern Utah to worsen during the winter.

As for St. George’s record, Weyman said there is little hope for St. George’s streak to end in the foreseeable future.

“We can easily see that no measurable rainfall record going into next week,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens after a week or 10 days. … They’ll break it eventually, when we get some sort of storm from California that slides in, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening in the near future.”

Wintry weather headed to Wasatch Front

Meanwhile, colder temperatures and precipitation is headed for the Wasatch Front. The expected storm could produce as much as a foot of snow in the mountains once it has passed, the National Weather Service tweeted.

The system will push through Thursday night, bringing some rain and high-elevation snow. Weyman said there might be a bit of a dusting of snow in places above 6,500 feet elevation Thursday night. The brunt of the precipitation will come between Saturday and Sunday.

“We can anticipate rain and mountain snow starting Saturday afternoon, and then the rain will flip over to snow later into the night Saturday," he said. "And into Sunday, it looks like it will be cold enough for a combination of either rain or snow … there could be some valley accumulation, but I think more than likely we’ll see it, like, the higher up you go.”

According to the National Weather Service, some Wasatch peaks may receive as much as 6 to 8 inches of snow by the end of the weekend. Some areas in the Uintas may receive 8 to 12 inches during the same period. Park City is expected to receive 2 to 3 inches, while Heber City is expected to see 1 or 2 inches, and Provo could see less than an inch. Salt Lake City, Tooele, Ogden and Brigham City aren’t expected to accumulate snow from the storm.

Temperatures will also drop from the storm. The forecasted high in Salt Lake City Thursday is 75 degrees, and it will drop to a high of 54 degrees Friday. Sunday’s high will be 48 degrees before it warms up into the upper 50s by Tuesday.

Forecasts for the rest of the state can be found on the KSL Weather page.

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